


Wimbledon

by Sassgaardian (LokiOfSassgaard)



Category: Cabin Pressure, Fortysomething
Genre: Gen, Plotbunnies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 14:20:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30056769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LokiOfSassgaard/pseuds/Sassgaardian
Summary: Another little plotbunny that probably started life as a meme fill a hundred years ago.  Rory and Martin are cousins, and Martin's been invited over for Christmas.
Kudos: 1





	Wimbledon

**Author's Note:**

> Another one that may never get finished but here it is.

As Carolyn made her way to the portacabin from Fitton's excuse for an airport, she found herself rather surprised at seeing her pilot wandering aimlessly around the area, and out of uniform. After a few moments, Martin seemed to have noticed her, and reacted with a simple smile, before continuing on in his wanderings.

"Oh, you useless boy," Carolyn said as she approached him. "Haven't you got work to be doing? You're not even properly dressed!"

"What?"

Before he had the chance to get away, Carolyn grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him in the direction of the portacabin.

"We're on standby this week," she said. "That means we have to be ready at twenty minutes notice; not have your own personal holiday."

"No, listen," he protested, trying to squirm away, but not entirely sure how to do so without hurting either of them. "I think there's been a – ow! – mistake! I'm not actually—"

Carolyn pushed open the door to the portacabin to find Martin, in uniform, behind his desk and quietly filling out his paperwork. He looked up suddenly at the two people standing in the door, straightening up slightly, as though getting ready to run.

"Hi," he said cautiously.

"Martin," Carolyn breathed. "What an unexpected surprise."

The man whose wrist she was still holding tapped her arm with his free hand. "Uhm, can you let go of me, please?" he asked.

Carolyn did, stepping away quickly. "Why are there two of you?" she asked, looking between Martin and the other Martin.

"There aren't," Martin said, going back to his paperwork. "You've just assaulted my cousin, Rory."

Rory rubbed his wrist and inspected it for marks. "Hi," he said.

"Cousin?" asked Carolyn. "You two look exactly the same!"

Rory and Martin exchanged nearly identical, very bored glances.

"No, not really," Martin said.

She looked between the two of them again, realising that while they did have similar features, they also did look quite a bit different. Rory was younger, for one, and didn't look as though he was in the habit of having to decide between doing the shopping and paying the bills.

"No," she agreed after a moment. "I'll just… be in my office. Martin, we're on standby today, remember—"

"Yes. Mr Banner," Martin cut in, not wanting to hear Carolyn's standby speech again. "Flight plan's all sorted and ready to be filed in the event that he actually decides to call."

"Yes. Right." Carolyn disappeared into her office, wondering how she could have possibly thought Martin would have slagged off on any paperwork.

"Is she on any medication?" asked Rory once the door to Carolyn's office was closed.

Martin shook his head. "No."

"Should she be?" Rory asked, dropping his voice to a whispe r.

"Depends on who you ask. Her, or anyone else?" He motioned for Rory to sit down and glanced at the wall chart. "I don't know if I'll be flying on Christmas, yet," he said. "Carolyn takes bookings up to four hours in advance. Sometimes less, if she's bored or if they're willing to pay a lot."

Rory blinked. "Is that legal?"

"I'm not sure," Martin said. "Less illegal than some of the other things that go on around here."

"Which reminds me," Rory said, dropping his voice again. "Paul asked me to come ask if you're all right. He said your mobile's been shut off again. I guess, if you're looking, he might be able to get you an interview for a firm that works out of Heathrow. And with Edwin finally moving out, I'm pretty sure Estelle's due for another mid-life crisis and could do with having someone else around the house."

Martin focused on his paperwork, trying to appear as though he were seriously concentrating on it, rather than seriously contemplating the offer.

"I do still have a couple of weeks to figure out what to do," he said after a moment.

"Oh, Martin.You didn't. Again?" Rory sighed and snatched Martin's pen away.

Martin cringed. "Don't tell your dad," he all but pleaded. "He's got enough going on without having to worry about me, I'm sure."

"I don't suppose you've eaten today, either," Rory said, somehow managing to keep all criticism from his voice. Martin wasn't sure whether to love him or hate him for that ability.

Without waiting for a response, Rory reached for a notepad and wrote down his mobile number, followed by Phone this number for Martin.

"I'm sure we can find something around here. Come on."

Martin wanted to protest. He wanted to tell Rory that he was fine and that the situation really wasn't as bad as it looked.

He also really wanted to get something to eat, so he got up to follow Rory to the canteen inside the terminal. Martin let his cousin buy him a sandwich and a Pepsi, and had almost managed to calm down about having to let Rory do so in the first place when Douglas came striding past after chatting up the woman who ran the till.

For a moment, he thought Douglas was going to ignore him, but it was a brief, fleeting moment that ended with the first officer stopping to stare.

"Why, Martin," he said. "I had no idea you came in pairs. I do hope he's not a pilot as well, or the skies may never be safe again."

Martin sighed. "No, this is my cousin, Rory."

Rory smiled awkwardly. "I'm not a pilot. I don't even have a driving license."

"How on Earth do you manage?" Douglas asked dryly. "A bit difficult to pull with tube tickets, I'd imagine."

Martin buried his face in his free hand. Rory gave Douglas a mildly disgusted look.

"I rely on a little thing called personality," he said. "You should try it some time."

Douglas raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, my mistake," he said. "You're nothing at all like Martin."

***

“Have you met Martin’s identical twin cousin?” asked Douglas as he walked through the door to the portacabin.

Arthur looked up from the Sudoku book he was playing noughts and crosses in. “The skipper’s got a twin?” he asked.

“Not only did I meet him, I dragged him in here and told him to get to work,” Carolyn said, ignoring her son. “I thought he was Martin, until I looked at his face.”

Douglas dropped down onto the sofa, landing in a lazy sprawl. “Rather nice young man, I thought. Nothing at all like Martin. He had a certain…” Douglas trailed off, not sure what word to use to describe Rory.

“Oh, yes. I agree,” said Carolyn. “He was very…”

“Twinny?” suggested Arthur.

“No, Arthur,” Carolyn said. “You can’t even have twin cousins.”

Arthur looked very confused. “Then why did Douglas say that Skip has an identical twin cousin?” he asked.

“He hasn’t,” Douglas amended. “It’s basic genetics, really. Appearance factors are largely multi-gene traits. Siblings share the same genes, and pass these genes on to their children, so it’s really just a matter of whether or not someone bears a certain resemblance to their cousin. It’s fairly common, actually. Happens more often than you might think.”

Carolyn blinked at him. “How on Earth do you know that?” she asked.

“I stood outside, looking it up on my phone before I came in here,” Douglas answered simply. “I had to come into this conversation knowing more than anyone else about it, naturally.”

“Naturally,” Carolyn confirmed sardonically.

“So, Skip’s cousin isn’t his twin?” asked Arthur cautiously.

“No, Arthur. The lad would have to be Martin’s brother to be his actual twin,” Douglas explained.

“Can’t he be both?” Arthur tried.

“Well, he could,” Douglas conceded. “And it would rather explain a few things about our captain, I should think.”

“What things?”

Douglas considered for a moment the myriad ways in which he could have answered that question. Instead, he shook his head. “I’ll explain when you’re older,” he said.

***

“Gentlemen!” Carolyn said as she stepped from her office.

“Oh, god,” Martin muttered.

“And what bad news befalls us today?” asked Douglas from his usual sprawl on the sofa. “Oh, don’t tell me. There’s been a change of plans and we’re going to be flying two dozen polar bears to the South Pole.”

“Change of plans, yes, but it’s good news to go along with the bad news,” Carolyn said. “Mr Jameson has cancelled on us. That’s the good news. The bad news is that at six-thirty on Christmas Eve, the chances of us picking up another contract are next to none, which means we’re out of work and off standby. And since I can’t afford to pay two pilots to lounge about doing nothing, I’m not going to.”

“Pay Douglas, you mean,” muttered Martin as he gathered up his paperwork.

“What?” asked Carolyn.

Martin cringed, having forgotten about Carolyn’s bat-like hearing. “Oh, nothing. I was just wondering if that meant I could make it home for Christmas dinner,” he tried.

“And in the unlikely event that we do pick up another contract between now and tomorrow, how am I meant to get in touch with you, since you haven’t fixed your phone yet.”

Martin bit his tongue and kept from mentioning the fact that being kept on standby meant that he wasn’t able to actually work. Not that many people needed a man with a van this time of year, but still.

“You can use mine, Skip!” Arthur offered.

Carolyn considered this for a very brief moment. “Very well,” she said. “Just make sure he doesn’t get wet and don’t let him eat after midnight.”

“Why, Carolyn. I had no idea that you birthed a Gremlin,” Douglas said.

“That’s because I don’t let him get wet and I don’t feed him after midnight,” Carolyn volleyed back. “Now, since I stopped paying you twenty minutes ago, there’s no reason for you to be here at all, is there? Be gone with you.”

As Carolyn retreated back to her office, Martin began tidying his desk, ignoring the look he knew Douglas was giving him.

“So, where will you two be going for your first Christmas together?” Douglas asked as he put on his coat.

Martin stiffened slightly. “It’s not like that,” he insisted quickly. “And it wasn’t even my idea.”

“And yet, you didn’t answer my question,” Douglas pointed out.

He and Martin had a short staring match, Martin growing more uncomfortable with each passing second.

“I go to my uncle’s house. In Wimbledon,” he answered finally. “Simon and Kaitlin have families of their own, and well, I don’t. So I go to Paul’s. It’s a bit sad, I know, but it’s better than spending the holidays alone.”

Arthur perked at this immediately. “Will your twin cousin be there?” he asked.

“He’s not my—Yes, he’ll be there,” Martin said, giving up on the argument early, before it had the chance to get away from him.

“Oh, wow. I’ve never met anyone with a twin before,” Arthur said.

“What are you talking about?” asked Martin. “Our client just last week had twin daughters.”

“Yeah, but that’s different because they were girls,” Arthur explained. “Boy twins are different. Because they’re boys.”

“We aren’t even twins!” Martin insisted. “And I’m not even going to mention the amount of levels on which that statement was wrong.”

“That boy twins are different, or that you and your cousin aren’t actually twins?” asked Douglas.

“So you are twins!” Arthur chirped triumphantly. “I knew it!”

Martin groaned. “Arthur, you haven’t even met him,” he pointed out.

“Oh, yeah,” Arthur said. “I guess I just got a bit confused, because I know you, Skip, and you look like your twin.”

“Can we please stop talking about twins?” asked Martin. “I don’t want to hear the word ‘twin’ ever again.”

“And yet, you just said it twice,” Douglas pointed out.

Exasperated and bored with the conversation, Martin walked out of the portacabin, slamming the door behind him. About ten seconds later, he meekly slunk back in and walked toward his desk.

“Forgot my coat,” he said quietly, before fetching it up and leaving again.

“Do you think it was something we said?” Arthur asked after a few moments.

Douglas rolled his eyes.


End file.
